CM's plea to MLAs for smooth conduct of proceedings

Chennai, Aug 4 (UNI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today sought the cooperation of the Treasury Benches and the Opposition for smooth conduct of the proceedings following a furore over a remark made by Higher Education Minister K Ponmudi.

''The Question Hour should be conducted as Question Hour. The Speaker should ensure this. It should not come to the level of a debate,'' Mr Karunanidhi said, after R Viswanathan (AIADMK) took objection to the statistics revealed by Transport Minister K N Nehru on the number of new buses purchased during the previous AIADMK regime.

When Mr Viswanathan challenged Mr Nehru on whether he stood by his statistics, Mr Ponmudi, without taking names, intervened to say that ''when you have tigers in Mathematics who had secured 200 out of 200, how can you give wrong statistics.'' His remarks created a furore and the House witnessed noisy scenes for a while. When all the AIADMK members objected to the remarks, Speaker R Avudaiyappan said the member had only repeated what was told in the House, before the Chief Minister rose and sought the cooperation of the members, including his Cabinet colleagues, for smooth conduct of the House.

UNI GV GM SI HS1415